Go Tell It On the Mountain: Mining News

Climax’s Freeport-McMoRan Making Headlines

The Climax Mine’s parent company Freeport-McMoRan has been lighting up the news feeds again with a variety of reports, from CEO salaries to the headline-grabbing story regarding its “quiet” purchase of public property to be used as a mining waste dump in Arizona, to the China headlines creating market volatility for the company’s profitable copper market. Here are the links to those business news headlines for the first Monday in February.

If you spent the weekend gathering together all of your tax information, take heart in knowing that your return won’t likely be as complicated as the one for Freeport-McMoRan CEO, Richard Adkerson pulling in a reported $16 million salary in 2019, marking year #16 at the helm of the publicly-traded company.

The $16m Man: Freeport-McMoRan CEO Richard Adkerson

As part of their regular analysis of CEO’s salaries based on company performance, Yahoo finance ranks his pay as “more than the median CEO pay at large companies, in the same market.”

But you get what you pay for and in Freeport’s case their strong shareholder earnings have led to a stronger incentive package for the man at the top, supporting the company’s underlying business performance. You can READ the full report HERE.

For readers who may not know, the Climax Mine located atop Fremont Pass on Highway 91 between Leadville and Copper Mountain is one of the mining giants numerous holdings, along with its sister molybdenum mine in Henderson, Colo.

New Grounds for Old Tailings

But it’s Freeport-McMoRan’s copper mine located down in Bagdad, Ariz. which topped the headlines last week with an investigative piece done by “New Times” newspaper, based out of Phoenix, a stone’s throw from Freeport’s corporate headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz.

According to the article: “The Arizona State Land Department this month sold nearly 17,000 acres of pristine desert land to Freeport-McMoRan, a Phoenix-based international mining company, which plans to use the property to store waste from its Bagdad copper mine.

The company purchased the land for about $13.5 million as the sole bidder during a January 6 auction. According to a document posted publicly prior to the sale, Freeport-McMoRan plans to use the site for a ‘tailings storage facility,’ referring to the often-toxic, sludge-like byproduct of mining. ”

Bagdad represents one of the largest copper reserves in the United States and in the world, having estimated reserves of 873.6 million tonnes of ore grading 0.36% copper. The mine also represents roughly 20 percent of Freeport’s North American copper production. While the “quiet” sale didn’t make any headline new on the front end, it’s making up for it now that the deal has been sealed. Find out what the environmental specialists are saying about the recently acquired land, as well as the mining giant’s track record of water contamination, in the FULL REPORT from New Times.

How Coronavirus Impacts Copper Mining

And finally riding out the Coronavirus headline news and growing health crisis in China, financial markets have followed suit. The impact is succinctly described in financial analyst Andrew Hecht’s report:

“Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) is one of the world’s leading copper-producing companies. Since 2018, the price of the red metal, FCX stock, and shares of other copper-producing companies have moved higher and lower on the back of events in China. The recent move to the downside came on the back of the outbreak of a virus. Coronavirus continued to spread throughout the Asian nation, and around the world, at the end of last week.”

Check out Hecht’s full report from “Seeking Alpha” including how the trade climate as well as “the rising potential for a global pandemic with China as ground zero for the health emergency has caused the price of copper to tank.”

Closer to Home: The Climax Mine

From the Leadville Today video archives, here are a couple of 2012 reports from Freeport-McMoRan’s Climax Mine located atop Fremont Pass, including a rarely seen tour of the Open Pit operations, as well as a description of the waste treatment operations.

The Climax Mine:Treatment Operations Video (2012)

The Climax Mine: Open Pit Video (2012)

Mining Museum Winter Hours

The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum (NMHFM) will be open until 8:00 p.m. Friday nights beginning in January for locals and visitors looking for something different to do at the end of a week of work or skiing. During these new extended hours all exhibits and the gift shop will be open.

The NMHFM will continue to open at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday through the winter months, closing at 4:45 p.m. on days other than Friday. It will be closed on Mondays.

On Friday, February 7, the NMHFM will be closed until 6 p.m. to prepare for the annual “Spirits in the Shaft: A Wine, Beer, and Whiskey Tasting.” Tickets for the roaring 20s event can be purchased at the gift shop, by calling (719) 486-1229, or online at the NMHFM website.